Latch-needle for knitting-machines



` (No Model.)

0. TREAT. LATCH NEEDLE FOB. KN'ITTING MACHINES,

No. 421134. {Patentedjlvray 6, 1890.

- is a full, clear, and exact description,whereby UNITED STATES;

PATENTV OEEICE.

ORION TREAT, OF MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT.

LATCH-NEEDLE FIOR KNlTTlNG-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,134, dated May 6, 1890. l

Application filed July 30, 1889. i

To @ZZ whom, it may con/cern:

Be it known that I., ORION TREAT, of Man chester, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Latch-Needles for Knitting-Machines, of which the following any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates to the class of needles that are used in knitting-machines, the latch in such a needle being pivoted in the socket near the hooked point of the needle, with the free end of the latch arranged to swing back and forth, so as to open and close the hook; and the object of my invention is to produce a needle of this class with a tongue held in place by a rivet that shall be not only secure against any rotary or endwise play, but shall also obviate any clogging of the latch, and such needle will thus obviate several serious difculties that exist in the needles of the prior art that do not embody my improvement.

My invention consists in alatchneedle having a hooked end and alatch.socket, a swinging latch with one end located in said socket, and a screw-threadedpivot-rivet with a slnooth latch-bearing and located in the threaded socket in the needle and passing through the latch; and' it further consists in details of the several parts making up the needle as a whole, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a side view, on an enlarged scale, of a needle embodying myimprovement. Fig.'2 is a top view of thesame on an enlarged scale. Fig. 3 isaview in central section across the needle, and showing the pivot in elevation. Fig. et is a view of the pivot-blank. Fig. 5 is a viewof the pivot in place in the needle and before it is upset.

In the accompanying drawings, the lettera denotes the shaft of the latch-needle; b, the point end, that is usually bent to the form of a hook c. d denotes the latch, and e denotes the pivot on which the latch d swings. A socket a is cut in the needle lengthwise of the shaft,.and nearthe point end of this socket one end of the latch is inserted and held therein by means of the rivet e, that 'forms serial N. 319,167. (No model.)

the pivot on which the latch freely swings to open and close the hook end. y

In needles made prior to my invention the latch has beenfastened in the socket by means of a rivet, the outer ends of the rivet-holes being slightly countersunk in the rivet-head and usually becoming in the heating somewhat roughened. When such a needle is used for a short time, the swinging of the latch loosens the pivot and causes or allows it to turn in its socket, with the result that the roughened ends of the rivet proj ecty sufficiently to catch into and tear the work, and a further difficulty is found in the-looseness of the pivot that either causes itto drop out altogether or to make the latch fail to work properly. In the small sizes of needles in the Balmoral needle the walls a2 of the opposite sides of the latch-socket a in the needleshaft are extremely thin, so that there is not enough stock at that part to resort to such devices as the flattening of the pivot-shank upon one end or making itin irregular outline to t a correspondingly-irregular socket, nor is there enough stock to hold the ordinary rivet with any certainty. The result is that on this class of needles particularly there is great loss to the manufacturers, who by the custom of the trade warrant all their work.

- In a form of old needle a screw-threaded rivet has been used by tapping a screw-thread in the pivot-socket in the needle-shank and securing the pivot by a slight riveting blow that upsets the thread and binds the pivot in the socket. In this form of old needle in which a threaded rivet is used it has been found by experience that the roughness of the threaded portion in the confined space within the latchsocket is a serious fault, as ber or dust accumulates after a few days use of the needle (particularly on worsted goods) to a degree that renders the needleinoperative.

I have discovered that by cutting an annular groove in the surface of the screw-rivet,

as' shown in Fig. 3, to form a smooth latchbearing such needle will not clog in use on any kind or grade of material. In this em- IOO the needle-shank and latch-socket, the swinging latch having one end located in said socket and supported on the smooth expanded central portion of the pivot-rivet, the threaded pivot-socket formed in the needle-shaft on both sides of the latch-socket, and the pivotrivet threaded on each end within the socket and having a smooth expanded central latchbearing, all substantially as described.

2. In combination with the needle a, having a hooked end b and a latch-socket a near the hooked end, a swinging latch d, with one end located in the needle-socket, and the threaded rivet e, itting the threaded socket in the needle and having the smooth and eX- panded latch-bearing, all substantially as described.

ORION TREAT. Witnesses:

CHAs. L. BURDETT, H. E. BACHARACH. 

